Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Human Life International Announces New President

On Monday, Patricia Pitkus Bainbridge, Chairman of the Board of Human Life International (HLI) , issued the following statement announcing HLI’s new leadership team: Fr. Shenan Boquet (bo-KAY), the pastor of St. Gregory Barbarigo Parish in Houma, Louisiana has been named the President of Human Life International. Also, HLI has named Fr. Peter West as Vice President for missions. Fr. West has served with Priests for Life (PFL) for the past 13 years.

FRONT ROYAL, Virginia — Patricia Pitkus Bainbridge, Chairman of the Board of Human Life International (HLI), issued the following statement announcing HLI’s new leadership team: Father Shenan Boquet as president, and Father Peter West as vice president for missions.
“After an extensive search in the US and abroad, and much prayerful discernment, the board of directors is pleased to announce that they have selected the team of Fr. Shenan Boquet and Fr. Peter West to carry on the legacy of HLI’s founder, the late Fr. Paul Marx. Fr. Boquet brings a great breadth of leadership and pastoral experience and passion for the defense of life and family to the position as president. Fr. West has a long and distinguished record of advocacy for life and family both in parish life and with Priests for Life, and was uniquely suited to head up HLI’s missionary work as vice president for missions.
“Both Fr. Boquet and Fr. West come to HLI with the full support of their respective bishops, and we are grateful to both bishops for allowing them to serve HLI. We are confident that under the leadership of Fr. Boquet and the strategic guidance of Fr. West, HLI will continue to be the leading international pro-life organization.
“Further, HLI is truly blessed to have had Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula at the helm during a year of transition. We are deeply grateful for all Monsignor was able to accomplish in his short time as interim president, and while he’ll be missed at HLI headquarters, we are pleased that he will continue to serve HLI’s mission as he resumes leadership of the Rome office.”
Both Fr. Boquet and Fr. West will assume their new responsibilities on September 1, 2011. To learn more about Fr. Boquet, click here; and for more about Fr. West, click here.

Priests for Life also issued a statement congratulating Fr. West, along with a statement from Fr. West about his new responsibilities at HLI. Additionally PFL announced the addition of Msgr. Michael Mannion to its Pastoral Team.

After traveling to all 50 states as associate director of Priests for Life, Father Peter West is ready to take on the world. Effective Sept. 1, Father West will be the Vice President for Missions for Human Life International. The newly created position will involve extensive international travel.
Father West, a native of New Jersey who has been in residence at Immaculate Conception Parish on Staten Island, will move to Front Royal, Va., where HLI has its headquarters.
“I’ll be doing work similar to what we do at Priests for Life,” Father West explained. While he will continue to speak out against abortion and euthanasia, he also will focus on issues like contraception, natural family planning and the defense of traditional marriage.
“My hope is to be a team player,” he said.
After receiving a master’s degree in theology from Holy Apostles Seminary in Cromwell, Ct., Father West was ordained in 1991 for the Archdiocese of Newark. In April 1998, he started working full-time with Priests for Life. In that capacity he provided training seminars to priests, deacons, and seminarians, preached in hundreds of parishes, presented the pro-life message in schools, spoke at pro-life conventions and banquets, did extensive radio and television programming, led prayer vigils at abortion mills, and took part in meetings with pro-life leaders.
From the very first days of his pro-life ministry, Father West has received a “very positive response” to his message. “People will say, ‘Thank you, Father, we really need to hear that,’ and that was so from the beginning,” he said.
The best thing about life on the road? “Pro-life people are the best people in the world,” he said. “Meeting so many good people all over was a real blessing.”
Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, said, “We congratulate Father. West on his new position. He and I have already spoken about the spirit of collaboration we want to exercise between Priests for Life and Human Life International, in the same way that Father Paul Marx and I collaborated when I first became director of Priests for Life in 1993. We will miss Father Peter at the day-to-day operations of Priests for Life, but at the same time, look forward to seeing him at national and international pro-life gatherings.”
The work of Priests for Life is increasingly international as well, particularly in the outreach of Rachel’s Vineyard and the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.
Father Pavone also expressed congratulations to HLI’s new President, Father Shenan Boquet, and to the HLI Board of Directors for all its hard work over the past year in searching for new leadership.
Meanwhile, Priests for Life announced the addition of Monsignor Michael Mannion to its Pastoral Team. A priest of Camden, N.J., Monsignor Mannion is a pioneer in the ministry of post-abortion healing, having trained priests for decades on how to counsel those who have lost children to abortion.
Monsignor Mannion will assist on a part-time basis in the strategic planning, writing, and preaching mission of Priests for Life, along with Father Frank Pavone, Father Denis Wilde, OSA, Father Scott Daniels, OP, Father Victor Salomon, and Father Walter Quinn, OSA._____________________________
About HLI: Human Life International: Pro-Life Missionaries to the World. Founded in 1981, HLI is the world’s largest international pro-life organization and has affiliates and associates in over 100 countries on six continents. www.hli.org
Priests for Life is the nation's largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.

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About Me

Sono Italiano-americano. I am a member of St Joseph the Worker Roman Catholic Church. I am an advisor to Alpha Phi Omega & College Republicans at Loras College. I am a member of the Dubuque Co. Republican Central Committee. I have been involved in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Movement since 1974. For me the overriding issue of the day is defending the preborn & upholding their right to life. If we don't value life before birth, we devalue it after birth. Life is a gift from God. This is why I am a supporter of the work that Dubuque County Right to Life does in my area. & that is why I am politically active. Our nation's laws need to be changed to protect all from conception to natural death.